Shama’s Specialties Owner Sentenced to 33 Months for Fraud

Mashama Ferdinand, 38, was sentenced Friday to 33 months in prison for wire fraud, along with $383,397 in restitution. She was remanded Monday to the custody of U.S. Marshals and, upon the completion of her sentence, will also serve four years of supervised release.

According to court documents, Ferdinand filed a Paycheck Protection Program loan application in July of 2022 on behalf of her company, Shama’s Specialties. The application claimed that Ferdinand had 15 employees and earned a quarterly payroll of $460,079. In a news release Monday, U.S. Gretchen Shappert said that Ferdinand electronically submitted her loan application to Bluevine, Inc. and, hours later, it was approved in the amount of $383,397.

“Bluevine’s computer records revealed that Shama’s Specialties application package was processed by unnamed co-conspirators in Apopka, Florida. Thereafter, on Aug. 3, 2020, Bluevine deposited the loan proceeds in the amount of $383,397 in Shama’s Specialties’ First Bank Virgin Islands’ checking account,” according to the release.

Three separate payments in the amount of $9,999 were wired two days later to three alleged co-conspirators for their help in processing the loan application, Shappert added. Ferdinand also used $50,000 of the loan proceeds to pay a business partner in return for his investment in Shama’s Specialties. A month later, Ferdinand spent approximately $12,000 on dental veneers and another $3,000 to pay off an American Express business card, the release said.